The commentary about the connection between the Haftarah and Torah reading was written by

As in the case of Matot, here, too, there is no theoretical or semantic connection between the parasha and the haftarah. This is the second of the three Destruction (Hurban) Haftarot that are chanted between 17 Tammuz and 9 Av. This is the period known as Between the Dire Straits, because it marks the three weeks between the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple.

In this haftarah, God rebukes the people for their ingratitude: "I brought you to this farmland to enjoy its fruit and its bounty, but you came and defiled My land; you made My heritage abhorrent…See, this is what you have brought upon yourselves for forsaking the Lord your God while He was leading you along the way" (Jer. 2:7, 17).

Idol worship has led the people astray, but when calamity strikes, they will realize their error; they will remember their God and will plead with Him to save them: "They say to the tree, 'You are my father,' and to the stone, 'You gave birth to me,' for they have turned their backs, not their faces, to Me; but in time of trouble they will cry: 'Arise and save us!'; And where are those gods you made for yourself? Let them arise and save you, if they can, in your time of trouble"(Jer. 2:27-28).

Since such castigations usually end with a message of consolation, the sages added some passages that point to the people's return to their God (Jer. 3:4) and to the blessing that will grow out of this reunion: "'If you return, O Israel,' says the Lord, 'if you return to Me, if you remove your abominations from My presence and do not waver; and if you swear, As the Lord lives—in truth, and in justice, and in righteousness—then shall the nations bless themselves by Him, and in Him shall they glory'" (Jer. 4:1-2).

Rinah Sheleff

Rinah Sheleff is a retired lecturer in Bible Studies at the Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv. She specialized in teaching methodologies that incorporate the creative arts as a way of emotionally connecting students with the human dilemmas inherent in Bible stories.
Rinah is also a professional storyteller and a movement instructor. Currently she is working with a team of storytellers on a project designed to make Talmudic and Hassidic stories accessible to the public at large.
She is a founding member of a women's Rosh Hodesh group that has been meeting for over 20 years, and was also active in creating the Tali School in Hod HaSharon.
And she loves Susie Dvoskin.

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Talia Rubinstein

Talia was two years old when she made aliyah to Ra’anana, Israel from Houston, Texas, in United States. During primary and middle school, she was educated in the Tali program, a non-religious track for enhanced Jewish studies in the Israeli public school system.
Talia studied for her bat mitzvah with Susie Dvoskin, who had an important influence on Talia to pursue egalitarian Jewish prayer. Talia is a regular Torah and Haftorah reader at Kehillat Hod Vehadar, also leading prayers for this conservative/masorti synagogue in Kfar Saba.
For several years, Talia was a counselor in the Ra’anana branch of the Noam youth movement, which is the scouts program for the Masorti Movement for conservative Jews. She now heads the program to teach Ra’anana counselors in training.
As of this writing, Talia is completing high school at Ostrovsky High School in Ra’anana, studying chemistry and art. She will be attending the Lachish pre-army mechina educational program in Nahal Oz.
“Susie has been a core influence on my Jewish studies over the years. I am proud to be a contributor to this important project.” comments Talia on her collaborations with Susie both for her bat mitzvah and this website development initiative.